The Leadership Tips and Teamwork blog is written to provide inspiration, insight and sage advice to people in the workplace. Its particular focus is on using the concepts of Quality and Lead Management on the job. It also discusses the special application of these concepts in schools and the educational field in general. Basically, the idea is to balance one’s focus between creating a need satisfying environment at work for yourself and your workers and always striving to improve one’s offered products or services.

April 26, 2007

Stereotyping and Fear

Yesterday, we talked about stereotyping coming from ignorance. Today, I'd like to talk about people who discriminate out of fear. Fear often develops from the scarcity
mentality. How frequently have you heard it said that the United States
should close its borders! “We have enough immigrants and they are
taking away all the jobs from good tax-paying American citizens.” These
are the people who believe that since they got theirs, no one else
should be allowed to have a part of the promised rewards. After all,
there won’t be enough for everyone. There is a fear that something will
be taken from them.

There is an even bigger fear that mostly comes from an unconscious
place. When you are a member of the majority group and that group has
been oppressing minority groups for whatever reason, there is always a
fear that if the minority group(s) gain power, then they may do to the
majority what was done to them. This is not a valid reason not to make
right what had been wrong. It may be human nature to seek power but as
a people, as human beings, we must find ways to create power with each
other instead of craving power over each other. That is what diversity
in the workplace is all about. All people coming together--bringing with them their unique talents, skills and abilities in an effort to
create the best possible products and services for a diverse
marketplace. Isn’t that a concept you can get behind? Let’s start today.

Do you have stories to refute or support that people often discriminate out of fear? I'd love to hear them.